Indo-Pak talks on nuclear CBMs on Oct 18, 19

Islamabad, Oct 15: India and Pakistan will hold talks on conventional and nuclear confidence-building measures (CBMs) on October 18 and 19 in New Delhi.

During the talks, the two sides are expected to finalise agreements on inadvertent border crossers and accidents at sea, which will give a major boost to the ongoing peace dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Sources said that two separate teams of experts led by Foreign Affairs Ministry officials would visit New Delhi to hold talks with Indian experts.

Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the Director General for South Asia at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, will lead the first team, which will include five officials, mainly from the Foreign Office, the Daily Times reported.

This team will hold talks on conventional CBMs with Indian officials led by TCA Raghvan, the Joint Secretary for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran on October 18.

The other team will be lead by Additional Secretary (United Nations) Khalid Aziz Babar. It will hold talks on nuclear CBMs with Indian officials on October 19.

It will have at least five officials, including the Director General for South Asia at the Foreign Affairs Ministry and senior officials of the Strategic Planning Division (SPD). K C Singh, the Additional Secretary (International Organisations), will lead the Indian side.

Two officials from the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi, including High Commissioner Shahid Malik, will also take part in the talks, the daily added.

The two-day meeting, which will be the fifth round of talks on convention and nuclear CBMs, will focus on modalities to improve the level of trust between India and Pakistan in the field of non-conventional weapons.